"At the end of the day we’re only in one business—the attendance business," ICFF event director Kevin O’Keefe tells AD PRO. Though the focus on numbers in a world obsessed with aesthetics might seem out of place, it works, O'Keefe points out, because "we have to make it so that people come back." And come back they do, to NYCxDesign's flagship fair, which runs May 20-23 at the Javits Center. In the five years that O'Keefe has been director, he's actively worked to improve the fair experience for professional designers and architects. Ahead of opening day, AD PRO caught up with him to hear how those changes will affect this year's fair, and what we can most look forward to.

An Ever-Growing Fair

"When I first took over, what struck me was that the fair had some nice content and everything was very original and innovative, but it was very small," O'Keefe said. "It was very well regarded by local architects and designers, but it just didn’t have much bandwidth. So it was about scaling that." To do so, O'Keefe visited the world's biggest fairs—Salone del Mobile, Maison et Objet, IMM—in search of their strongest participants, then worked with consulates to bring in new talent. "The more I brought in, the more architects came. Now ICFF has over 30,000 attendees [and 900 exhibitors]—that’s a lot. And they come from everywhere."

A Global View

With O'Keefe's international scouting came another now integral part of the fair: a global range of products and exhibitors. "It’s an international show," O'Keefe says simply, "because design is international." This year's iteration will feature "No Taste for Bad Taste," a show of French Design; the Handmade in Germany tour, comprising 180 small German galleries; the Raiz Project, a showcase of Brazilian design, and a debut pavilion by the Romanian Furniture Manufacturers Association, as well as large envoys from Lithuania and Poland. "That’s all stuff that’s never been seen before because they’re small companies," O'Keefe says. "So someone designing a third or fourth home or a hotel could find something that no one else has. That’s what makes or breaks it for an architect or designer."

Newness

That newness doesn't just mean new vendors—O'Keefe and his team insist that every exhibitor be showing never-before-seen product. "When we do surveys of the audience, their biggest complaint is seeing things they’ve already seen," O'Keefe says. "So I always say, 'If you don’t have something new, you should just skip this year.'"

Rebecca Atwood's booth at ICFF in 2017.

Photo: Courtesy of Rebecca Atwood

Guaranteed Originality

More vital than newness to ICFF is guaranteed authenticity and originality in design. O'Keefe is actively involved with Be Original Americas, the nonprofit organization looking to prevent knockoffs in the furniture world. ICFF applicants must list their designers and where they sell their product, so, according to O'Keefe, "between those two things, a lot of those who are copying drop off. Then, when they supply photography, we eliminate anyone else who is not original."

Tie-Ins With NYCxDesign

"When NYCxDesign first started in 2013, I initially didn't get involved with them," O'Keefe recalls, having wanted to focus instead on his own fair. "But then I thought, Maybe if ICFF gets involved, we can position New York as the 'queen of design' city. We have 60,000 designers here—that’s like Milan and Paris combined." Now ICFF is a host of the annual NYCxDesign Awards (held this year at Pier 17), and also encompasses some of the city's other fairs—especially those whose time frames don't overlap with ICFF.

"Last year, I created something called ICFF Gallery to identify galleries that wanted to work with architects as part of their projects," O'Keefe says. "So when Steven Learner decided to move Collective Design to March, he was concerned that he’d leave behind some of the people that come in May, so I said, 'Come into the gallery space.'" Thus was born Collective Concept, a satellite of the popular show within ICFF. Brooklyn Designs, which wrapped this weekend, will also have a space at the fair.

A Charitable Aspect

For the first time this year, ICFF will incorporate a charity element: a silent auction to benedit the Anna Hernandez Grant Award, named for the textile designer who suffered from Alzheimer's before her death in 2016. "I knew that Anna was a star in the textile world and had contracted Alzheimer's at 46, which shocked a lot of people," O'Keefe says. "Her husband wanted to put money aside for a grant, and I said, 'I’d love to host it, but why don’t we do more?' We’re in an industry that loves to give back, and Alzheimer’s touches everybody—I don’t know anybody who doesn't know someone who’s had it." ICFF matched the grant amount, raising from $5,000 to $10,000, and invited exhibitors to participate in a silent auction—which 150 of them accepted. Visitors will be able to bid on samples for the duration of the fair, with funds raised benefiting the Anna Hernandez/Luna Textiles Education Fund. O'Keefe hopes this becomes a continuing tradition. "The first year maybe we have 150 participants, and next year we should have 500 or 600, just keep it growing."

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